Sand, surf, oil and building sites..

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well hello from the middle east! Here's a report in from my experiences here in Dubai. I know many of you are curious about what it is like here so I thought I would give you an update as well as reassurance that I am safe and sound.

I arrived on Monday morning after a 15 hour flight via Singapore. I got here at 6am and it was bright and hot (although its still "winter"). My first experience, to show just what this town is about, was the customs queue. I have been in many customs queues and never before have I seen such an incredible cross sections of ethnicities and religions. Everyone was represented. From flamboyant african women dressed from head to toe in traditional (pink!) clothes to arabic men with the ubiqitous "dish dash" (white dress) and 'tea towel' head scarf made fashionable by Qadafi. The queue was long but surprisingly efficient considering an estimated 15,000 families presently emigrate to Dubai each day (yes DAY!).

Second experience was to find my new suitcase smashed to smithereens by the airline baggage handlers. yeah, thanks for that. expecting to lose the rest of the day to sorting this debacle out I went to the baggage services only to walk out 15 minutes later with a brand new (and probably slightly better..) suitcase. Which brings me to my next point - the service here is incredible. On a couple of occasions I have literally just had to think of something I required and it would be presented to me. Given the wealth here your every need is catered for and there is always some one on hand to serve you. its almost embarrassing. However, its business and many people come here from India, pakistan and africa looking for the opportunity to work. They make up a massive service industry that supports the wealthy Emrati's and western ex-pats.

This leads to a massive discrepancy in class which is proving a difficult issue for the government. Eg the average salary for a lawyer here is about 30,000 dirham per month. The average salary for a builder is 800 dirham per month. If you read the classifieds there are "workers camps"for sale, ie by 30 bedrooms and stick 100 foreign workers in them to make a buck. it kind of blows your mind. But the truly crazy thing is, 800 or 30,000, everybody is here to make a buck.

Dubai itself is a massive building site. describing it is really quite difficult but I will try.

35 years ago there was nothing here. and I really do mean nothing: they were a roaming bedoin community that did not have electricity. Dubai is absolutely flat. Its is a sheer stretch of desert that reaches up and touches the gulf waters. with powder soft white sand beaches with crystaline turquoise waters. the beaches are beautiful. So imagine this place, 100% deserted, all sand and water and roaming traditional communities. Nothing here, no electricity. And then someone discovered oil and gas.

And then someone went to the Gold Coast and thought "this could work" and went back to Dubai and said "Build me a city like this place they call 'The Gold Coast' yet make my buildings 3 times as high and make all that glitters from real gold and make all that shines from real marble".

And bring me the most expensive cars from around the world and we shall place our camels in the stables and instead I will drive this thing they call "Ferrari" or "masserati" or "hummer"... if you get the picture

Speaking of Hummer's: this place is Hummer heaven. First night here I saw something I never imagined in my wildest dreams - a stretch hummer. And not just a little stretch this Hummer stretched for a good 20m. You could fit 20 of your best friends in this stretch combat vehicle and drive out into the desert...

well, there's plenty more to say but I shant bore you. job interviews have been going well ánd I have already had one offer so far, so i will see what happens (here as well as London).

Hope you are all well

signing off from the Land of opportunities..

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